Module six, constructive criticism. Understanding what motivates the people you are leading is a great way to better assist them. But you also have to have other pressures upon you as a leader, which can include your ultimate goal for your company as well as pressure from higher ups in your own hierarchy. What's more, even when you are an understanding and compassionate leader, some may seek to test this. The difference between an understanding but effective leader versus a weak leader is how well you respond when people attempt either to consciously or unintentionally, cross boundaries. When someone engages in behavior that's detrimental to your overall leadership vision, you occasionally have to intervene was important in this case is that you intervene in an effective way that makes the situation better for everyone involved.

What are your intentions when you have to criticize a correcting employee, one of the most important things to consider your own motivations. While it may be tempting to want to punish an employee who acts up, this can frequently create a poisonous environment where the employee misses the message of improvement, and only hears a message that involves asserting your superior position over that employee. This can recreate a sense of a parent child relationship, which runs counter to seeing the other person involved as a person and an equal who deserves respect. Punishment often has unintended consequences as well. If you look at the number of criminals who leave prison only to return again after a time, it becomes evident that punishment can harden someone into repeating behaviors. As much as it can deter that person from those behaviors.

Sometimes it is helpful to retreat from potentially a volatile interaction. Rather than addressing the person when you are angry. You can use email to schedule a time to address an issue for an example, which has the additional purpose of allowing you to restore your own emotional balance. Ultimately, you're in conflict with an employee because he or she has crossed the boundary. Whether or not it's a social boundary, or one related to your expectations for work. The more productive and effective approach is to find a way to correct the behavior rather than finding a way to punish the employee a positive vision of success.

One way to approach an intervention where you need to let them play You know about an area of improvement, or an intolerable behavior that needs to be corrected, is to try to envision the situation playing out in such a way that there are no losers. Instead, you want to consider a way in which everyone has an opportunity to come out a winner. For an employee who has trouble with being at work on time or at all, this might be a powerful move that allows the employee to take greater responsibility in her his life, and improvement that can carry over into a long term. And when you develop a positive vision of what a successful correction looks like, you are better able to stay out of the punishment or blaming mentality than so often sabotages good intentions and well meaning criticism Feedback sandwich. Experiencing criticism can be a stressful situation.

And the common approach towards hearing criticism is to prepare a defense. One way to soften another person's experience of your criticism is to use the idea of a feedback sandwich. Instead of telling people what they are doing wrong all at once, you can mix the negative with genuine positive comments as well. It's important that these are genuine. But however, you can come across as insincere and manipulative and lose any goodwill or trust you might have earned with your employees. Finding a positive thing to say about an employee who needs correction serves as an additional purpose as well.

Whenever you are angry at another person, a good tactic to help spur your thinking away from that person's faults is to consider something positive about that person. Having something good to say about your employee can help put the entire situation in a more manageable perspective. Following up versus badgering. When you set goals, it's important that you set a goal that is achievable and corresponds to a timeframe. Similarly, when you intervene with employee about an area that needs improvement, it is helpful to have a definite view of success as well as a timeframe for when you can check back with the employee. This follow up will work better when it is approached as a How are you doing with this?

Rather than have you done what I told you to style calm Furthermore, you should consider avoiding two types of extremes, not allowing up at all, and overdoing your follow up by continuously returning to the issue. When you initially discussed the issue with your employee, it will be most effective. If you both identify a time in the future to schedule a follow up conversation, where you can check in with each other. If you never follow up, it erodes your credibility when you do offer constructive criticism, because it makes it seem as if there was no real need for criticism. On the other hand, if you continuously come back to the situation, that prompted criticism, you put the employee into a guilt, redemption type drama. If you follow it, which Your employee at a scheduled time and the employee has not shown improvement.

You can reassess what needs to be done further and use that time to schedule another follow up. Keeping your follow ups structured, can help you avoid the pitfalls that can turn following up and being invested in your employees excess into a form of harassing your employee.